Private sector operation calls for organizational change

If you pay attention, you will find that "private domain" may be one of the most frequently heard high-frequency words at industry conferences in recent years, but what this means to enterprises may not be clear to everyone. More than twenty years ago, U.S. Congressman Edward Markey sarcastically said, "The good news from Washington is that everyone in Congress supports the idea of information expressway, but the bad news is that no one knows what it means." Now, the same is true for the cognition of "private sphere". It seems that everyone thinks that digital transformation should be a private domain, and it is also very important. But the question is: after knowing what is right, how to do it right? Author | Wei Zhou He Jianshi Editor | Shi Yang's living environment has changed. The epidemic is the black swan event of our time, which undoubtedly has a far-reaching impact on the whole business environment. For many enterprises, the most important thing at the moment is how to survive: the market has changed and consumers have changed. Enterprises should also change accordingly. They must tap new growth points and build their own resources to cope with unpredictable market shocks. At this point, the private domain is at least an indispensable part of the answer, even if it cannot provide all the answers. Why? This involves the question of "what to do" for enterprises. A friend of mine started a small troupe. I asked him how he survived, and he replied, "It's actually very simple. We don't need everyone to pay attention to us and like us, which is impossible. But for a minority literature and art like us, as long as there are tens of thousands of stable audiences who can support us for a long time, we can survive. " "Private domain" seems to be a mysterious new term, but the internal reasons are actually similar: under the epidemic, many people cut unnecessary expenses, and their consumption behavior is becoming more and more rational, while the conversion rate of media advertising investment is getting worse and worse, and the conversion cost is rising. At this time, the private domain users have become a relatively stable foundation disk, and will surely become the last user pool of the brand and a safe haven against unpredictable risks. The so-called "private domain" is the domain directly owned by brands or enterprises, which can be reached repeatedly at low cost or even free of charge. The key difference between it and "public domain" is that enterprises deepen contact with users, manage customers and stimulate repurchase. To some extent, "private domain" is like a brand "fan club", with more accurate crowd, higher quality and more stability. For a long time in the past, enterprises generally paid attention to "public domain traffic", that is, paidmedia that spent money on advertising. Its advantage is that it can quickly open up brand awareness and does not need to operate by itself, because the creativity, production and delivery of advertisements can be entrusted to advertising agents. However, when enterprises pay more and more attention to the effect transformation, they begin to pay attention to the benefits of private domain: because these traffic hardly need to pay advertising fees, most people they come into contact with are more interested in you, and the traffic is controllable and cost-effective, which can serve users more deeply, more accurately than those in public domain traffic, and can bring more effective follow-up transformation through intensive cultivation. Private domain is a deeper and more comprehensive customer relationship than public domain. It is a commercial space jointly established by consumers and operators, and consumers and operators can communicate and interact with each other. The trust economy represented by content, algorithms and social links is more direct and efficient than the traditional e-commerce platform. It is expected to reconstruct the consumption decision of 654.38 billion users by changing "people looking for goods" into "goods looking for people". It is no exaggeration to say that in today's era, enterprises must have the ability to operate in private domain, because in the case of increasingly segmented market, peak network traffic dividend and increasingly high customer acquisition cost, the refined management based on private domain user pool may determine the survival of enterprises. Only in this way can we build a relatively stable and controllable exclusive small-scale ecology, clarify our self-positioning in market segments, shift from extensive marketing model to intensive cultivation, and win the stable support of specific audiences with our own characteristics. It is conceivable that when the market ecology changes in this direction, those institutions that cannot be adjusted may face crisis sooner or later. Because consumers, traffic and investment are limited resources, if the conversion cost is too high, it means that the return on investment is low, which will inevitably affect the competitiveness of enterprises in the long run. It is precisely because of this that in recent years, more and more advertisers who pay attention to digital effects have found that advertising and gameplay based on platform rules can no longer achieve market goals, and realized the importance of "public-private domain linkage"-the exposure of public domain can bring transformation, but it is more important for enterprises not to stimulate a single purchase itself, but to let these users settle down and transfer to private domain to operate long-term traffic. It is also in line with this demand. Nowadays, advertisements in the WeChat ecosystem can form a good linkage with the private domain, and such frontier changes are the general trend. The problem now is that many managers subconsciously regard it as a marketing channel even if they realize that they should have the ability to operate privately. For a long time, they are used to taking production as the center, as if marketing is "a problem to be considered after production". But in fact, private domain operation is not just "another new channel". To do it well, we need a fundamental change in the concept of organization and management. Digital transformation is actually the transformation of people. If enterprises want to do a good job in private domain operation, the first pain point they face is: where do talents come from? Not to mention the accumulated investment of private sector groups themselves. Even with such a user pool, refined user management is quite labor-intensive. How to keep and stimulate the enthusiasm of users needs a series of skills, because it actually needs to operate the brand as an IP, truly implement "user-centered", innovate constantly, and respond to their real consumption needs and brand experience. Now it is not an era of "selling by brand awareness", and consumers' decision-making is much more rational. They often have to look at the experience of other users before they can buy. In other words, content and social interaction have become more important than ever before. Only by paying attention to the private domain system of self-operated and members can enterprises better understand consumers, and on this basis, they can more accurately launch products and ideas that meet the needs of target groups and take the lead in the market. It is not easy to do a good job in private domain operation. It requires not only a deep understanding of the brand itself from production to sales, but also a keen control of the user's needs, which will eventually be implemented in refined management and constantly optimize the transformation of all links. There is a lack of folk talents in the market. According to the data in the White Paper on Private Sector Organization and Talent Development published by Tencent, during the period of 1-1in 2020, the recruitment of talents in the private sector increased by 80% year-on-year, and this demand still maintained a growth momentum significantly higher than the overall market level in 20261. According to the worry-free forecast, in 2022, the new demand for private talents will be as high as 165438+ million. But in addition to the gap in the number of talents, what is more prominent is the gap in the ability of talents to operate in the private sector. Even if you have experience in private domain operation in the same industry, you may not be able to use it well when you come, because the private domain operation of any brand depends on the control of countless details in the front end and the overall business model. This requires managers to carefully evaluate the personnel capabilities of the existing private domain team when building the framework, and compare them with the capabilities required by the private domain positions to be established, so as to clarify the talents that the organization lacks and the corresponding capabilities that need to be supplemented, and analyze and clarify which key capabilities can be cultivated through internal construction and which need the support and empowerment of external resources and training. The construction and training of talents is a difficult but correct step, especially in the private sector. In the era of private domain, human efficiency is more important for the development of smart retail, and talents and organizational ability have become the most critical success factors of smart retail. This is not only an effective data analysis of delivery and transformation, but also because these front-line personnel facing consumers are likely to directly affect the user experience. In the final analysis, digital transformation is human transformation, because the optimization of any one of these links ultimately depends on people. However, enterprises should not only attach importance to talents, but also avoid being greatly affected by the departure of one or two talents, which requires continuous optimization of the talent system of brand private domain business. To create such "organizational power" in the private sector, enterprises must first have a systematic professional talent reserve and learning and development system to continuously improve the professional ability of talents. The talent system of private domain organizations is based on the three core value demands of private domain business: marketing, sales transformation and user relationship management, covering seven core private domain business job categories and corresponding to different competency models. The reality is that the talents and abilities of private domain operation cannot be changed out of thin air, which makes the transformation of talents within enterprises particularly urgent. However, a major pain point faced by enterprises at this time is the lack of a systematic methodology learning system. At present, a large part of the private domain operation talents of enterprises come from internal excavation, and the relevant knowledge and skills of personnel are relatively lacking, so the demand for systematic training is very strong. From the perspective of personnel structure, the small program mall of the private domain operation team has the largest number of operators and users, and the training demand is also the greatest. For the development of smart retail, in order to grasp the commercial value brought by private domain, it is urgent to have a mature private domain talent training system and a professional, scene-based and customized training course system to help brands in different industries build private domain organizations, establish a perfect private domain talent system, and keep up with market trends to continuously improve talent ability and organizational competitiveness. According to the different modes of private domain organization-temporary project organization, supplier empowerment and self-built all-around organization, the position distribution and key demand for ability are different, but they are all based on three main levels of private domain business: private domain construction, private domain operation and sales transformation. These new skills not only help to improve the efficiency of organizational operations, but also help to retain talents. The reason is simple: in this rapidly changing era, almost everyone has the motivation to improve their competitiveness, so that they will not be eliminated in the market competition. It is difficult for an enterprise that can't let people learn new skills to retain outstanding talents. Furthermore, it is an unavoidable fact that the supply of talents in private domain is in short supply, which requires organizations to make efforts in talent training (especially in emerging fields), so as to establish their own trust in the organization and make the private domain operation continue to be stable and optimized. Good private domain operation actually needs long-term precipitation-know more about the operation details and target consumers, and you will know where the details need to be improved, and then do better and better. How to make good use of and retain talents may be more important than ever. Organizational change private domain operation is not an abstract concept, and private domain organizations cannot be built at one time according to the manager's plan. It is bound to be implemented in reality, and it will be constantly adjusted and improved on the basis of capturing the frontier dynamics. Therefore, a mature and flexible private sector organization not only needs reserve talents who are competent for core positions, but also needs to continuously improve its core competence in combination with business development. In order to establish a private domain business talent system that adapts to the evolution of its own private domain organization model, the key lies in whether it can make full use of external training resources to empower the team in time and jointly build a successful private domain operation team with internal resources. Just like all emerging fields, the most critical problem of private domain operators is not just "lack of talents". How to cultivate qualified talents and evaluate their performance requires a standardized system, otherwise it will be difficult to ensure the stable maintenance and continuous optimization of private domain operations. Recognizing this importance, Tencent Smart Retail launched the "Smart Retail Personal Education Talent Certification Program" as a professional personal education talent training solution. The plan integrates the knowledge training and learning certification of "private domain format", provides continuous capacity building, trains and exports private domain practitioners, and effectively helps brands improve their front-line operation capabilities. The "Smart Retail Private Talent Certification Program" focuses on the pain points of retail enterprises in the process of private domain format construction and operation, goes deep into all aspects of private domain operation, and provides systematic training and capacity model construction for key links such as management, operation and marketing. The first batch of courses focused on the three hot areas with the strongest demand for private talents and training—small program mall operation, user operation and digital shopping guide, provided comprehensive and systematic skills guidance such as "operational skills", "data and tools" and "practical cases", launched 70+ excellent courses and test questions, cultivated and assessed the corresponding private talents' abilities, and then empowered private institutions. This course is free and open. It is suggested to arrange students in the field of private domain operation to sign up for study within the enterprise. After completing the study and examination, you can also obtain the learning certification certificate issued by Tencent Smart Retail. Needless to say, most enterprises are still in the exploration stage of private sector organization and private sector business construction, and it is now a critical period for enterprises to lay out private sectors. Enterprises should take the construction of private sector organizations and the cultivation and development of private sector talents as a long-term project from a strategic perspective. In terms of personnel training, while referring to the mature external personnel training system, we should gradually establish an internal personnel training system, formulate a clear development path for private personnel, gradually internalize the talent ability of corresponding positions, and introduce external training courses in a timely manner in combination with business development and job responsibilities to continuously improve the core competence of private personnel, so as to maintain organizational competitiveness in the rapidly changing private market. For brands, the transformation of marketing model from public domain to private domain is the all-round promotion of commodity power, product power, organization power and operation power, and it is also related to the all-round evolution of organization, strategy and talents. "Operational power" represents whether the brand can operate and maintain the user population more efficiently, promote sales transformation and repurchase, and open up the growth path of private domain GMV. Behind it is the support of "organizational strength", which can help the brand to operate efficiently, systematically optimize the private domain business, and provide organizational structure support and cooperative combat capability for the private domain business. Therefore, brands need to upgrade their private domain business to a strategic level and regard it as a top-down strategic project. When private domain becomes the only brand-owned user pool, the capacity building of data center needs to be the top-level project, which is not only a useful tool in business management, but also an upgrade of management ideas and methods. In short, private domain operation is to update the organization's management system, not only to add a department, but also to make it have the necessary decision-making power, and to guide the whole process from production to sales with the most cutting-edge market dynamics-why not redesign it from the perspective of consumer experience and make products that are more suitable for their own needs? This is the influence and change that the private domain may eventually bring to the organization: the front-end personnel who operate the private domain are at the forefront of sensitively capturing market trends, and they can be said to be the people who know consumers and market changes best in the organization. Therefore, "private domain operation" is not only a problem of "selling better", but also requires managers to be fully empowered to promote the innovation of products and services with their insights. Whoever can better promote such organizational changes will take the lead in the blue ocean of private domain business.